An orthodontic headgear release assembly is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,589, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. This assembly is used between an orthodontic metallic facebow and a headstrap. The assembly includes a tension applying mechanism that has a plastic strap with a series of holes spaced apart from each other. Each hole is assigned its own number in sequence, and the numbers may appear as raised numbering and located between the holes in succession. The orthodontist selects which of the holes is to be attached by the outer ends of the facebow so as to provide the proper amount of tension to a patient's teeth via the bow. The rest of the device is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,589, and so need not be repeated here.
The patient takes off this orthodontic headgear release assembly at various times to avoid harming himself, e.g., during participation in an active sport. After the activity is over, the patient must re-apply the headgear, which involves putting the hooked ends of the bow back into the proper holes in the strap. This can only be done after the headstrap is in position around the nape of the patient's neck with the facebow also in its proper position, i.e., connected to the teeth to be corrected.
Unfortunately, when the headstrap and facebow are in this position, the area where the final connection of the hook end is to be made into the selected hole of the tension mechanism is out of the patient's sight, e.g, at the side of the patient's head in the vicinity of the ear. Therefore, the patient must either count the number of holes on the strap to find the correct hole, must use a mirror (difficult for some patients), or must be assisted by another person to locate the proper hole.
It would therefore be desireable to enable recognition of the proper hole in a strap of a tension applying mechanism of orthodontic headgear to be fastened to a facebow without the need for assistance by another, counting holes, or utilizing a mirror.
The present invention is directed to orthodontic headgear having a tension applying mechanism that has an elongated strap with a series of holes and a notch or projection associated with each or selected ones of the holes. The notch or projection is along the longitudinal edge of the strap. The notches or projections may vary in size and shape so that each is unique. As an alternative, a notch or projection may be arranged in association with a specific sequence of holes, such as every fifth hole or every even or odd numbered hole. Thus, a patient need only run his finger along the longitudinal edge of the strap to quickly identify the proper hole by the unique size and shape of the notch or projection and/or by counting the notches or projections.